Budding Romance
by Dashing
Summary: Stiles gives Derek a plant. Derek multi-tasks by not killing the plant and making Stiles fall in love with him. What even is this :/ I have no idea, and can only apologize. Its even got a pun for a title. Good God.


**A/N: So I don't know how it happened, but I'm addicted to Teen Wolf. I'm deeply ashamed but also not at all ashamed because Sterek is bringing joy to the life of at least a few hundreds. This was written in 20 minutes and not proofread at all so sorry x100 for all the mistakes.**

Stiles has a pretty good memory. No scratch that he has a kick ass memory. And maybe a few months ago when he'd been on his 'Derek is an evil killer werewolf' theory he snuck a peek at Derek's arrest report and file. And maybe he'd seen the date of birth and its not like he can forget it (see: kick ass memory). SO the knowledge is just there in his head, and he's in class one day and asks Scott for the date and his memory so helpfully informs him that Derek's birthday is tomorrow. Now Stiles isn't quite as much of an idiot as most people seem to think. He knows Derek's probably not the type that wants a surprise party (although you never know with the quiet types) and even if he does want to celebrate his birthday he probably doesn't want to celebrate it with Stiles. They aren't _there_ yet. But he cant do nothing. He just isn't programmed that way.

So he buys Derek a gift. Its some borderline ugly potted plant that would never survive in the wild and is kind of pathetic and obviously Stiles loves it because he only ever seems to love broken pathetic things. He debates for a long time (the whole 20 min drive to the subway car mess of a house Derek's at) about whether or not to give the plant to Derek. There's a lot to consider, Stiles is pretty sure Derek doesn't even have running water (how will he water the plant?), also Derek doesn't seem very nurturing he might kill plenty, and finally the biggest concern is that Derek wont love and look after plenty who has been in the Jeep (and Stiles life) for 20 minutes now so obviously Stiles is _incredibly _attached.

But he already bought the damn thing, and he cant do _nothing _for Derek on his birthday, so he sucks it up and kisses plenty goodbye and takes it into the subway car. Derek is there (no surprise) and is frowning at Stiles (shocking).

"Happy Birthday Sourwolf!" Stiles says dramatically and holding out plenty as a peace offering/shield.

Derek looks surprised, "Is that for me?" pointing to the plant.

"Yes," says Stiles officially uncomfortable with this conversation, he shoves the plant into Derek's hands and says, "You better not kill it!" before all but running out of the subway car and back to the Jeep.

Derek stands there for a while after Stiles' hasty departure and stares at the plant. He doesn't know how Stiles found out about his birthday, and he doesn't know why he's surprised that he did. He stares at the plant, its definitely the Charlie Brown christmas tree of potted plants, which definitely doesn't make him smile fondly at the plant.

The next time Stiles happens to be in the subway car (theres some dramatic dangerous teen werewolf drama going on and all of Beacon Hills is in danger) but he takes a second to scan the car for Planty.

Planty is nowhere to be found. Stiles… he isn't surprised exactly, more like hurt. Hurt on behalf of Planty that he should have had such a brief life after being saved from the flourist shop and finally getting a home only to be killed by an evil werewolf. If Stiles is slightly more mean to Derek for the rest of the night well thats between him and Planty.

Several weeks after that particular incident Pack bonding sessions commence in the form of rebuilding the Hale house. Months after that when they've all become this co-dependent pack thats more like a little family construction is finally complete. They've rebuilt it exactly how it once was with the exception of the kitchen, which is now larger and has a huge window on one side that lets in ridiculous amounts of light.

Now they're furnishing the place and although they rebuilt it the same the decor is giving it a completely new feel. Blame Lydia. Everyone else is.

Anyway it all goes down when they are moving in all the new furniture. Most of the stuff has been brought in and is being set up and moved around to find its "optimal" location. Most of the pack is in the living room arguing about where to put the TV when Stiles notices Derek isn't there anymore. He ducks out of the argument and heads towards the kitchen. He sees Derek by the window and heads over to him.

"I swear to god if you're trying to secretly move the microwave I'm going to stab you. You told me I could do the kitchen how I want since I'm the only one who can cook and I say it stays as far away from the stove as possible. That much heat in one area is just so not a good idea, I don't care if it looks weird next to the blender-"

"I don't care about the microwave Stiles, I'm not Lydia," replies Derek, "I was just adding some things from the old place."

Stiles makes a face "What exactly are you salvaging from the decrepit subway car and bringing into my pristine new kitchen Derek?" Derek waves Stiles over and shows him the addition to the windowsill. Its Planty. Stiles jaw drops.

"But you killed Planty!"

"Planty?" Derek asks not even trying not to sound mocking.

"Not the point! I gave you that months ago and you killed it in like a week!"

"Obviously I didn't. Why did you think I'd killed it?" Asked Derek turning to face Stiles, "Well, you asked me not to."

Stiles just gapes even harder. "I was at the car like a week after that and Planty was nowhere to be seen! Dead! Gone! Murdered by you!"

Derek just rolls his eyes, "Stiles plants need sunlight to survive how could I have kept it in-"

"You're underground lair? I don't know i didn't think of that!" Stiles pauses for a moment realizes that yea of course Derek couldn't have kept Planty down there, which means that Derek found a sunny spot not inside his home to keep the plant Stiles gave him that he regularly visited to water and monitor all because Stiles had told him not to kill the plant.

He opens his mouth (jk it was already open) to tell Derek how insane it is that he's been putting so much effort into keeping this $4.50 plant for months just because Stiles _asked_ him to, but what comes out instead is "I love you."

Well crap.


End file.
